Unnerved
by Gavr3el
Summary: For YuYear 2017, Day 3. Touya/Kurama. One-shot. Mild shounen ai warning. Dedicated to crewdlydrawn at tumblr. Enticing take away sentence, "Forget assassins. Kurama was more deadly than all of [Touya's] enemies combined." Enjoy.


Disclaimer: I don't own _Yu Yu Hakusho_ , nor am I making money from creating and posting this little one-shot.

"Summary" (or enticing take-away sentence): _Forget assassins. Kurama was more deadly than all of_ [Touya _'s_ ] _enemies combined._

Warning(s): Mild _shounen ai_ (m/m), but there's nothing graphic. Touya/Kurama-ness. A rare pairing. Also, the timeline is a vague. Consider it about six to ten years or so after the events of the anime…and there's a bit of fudging on my part with the Demon World law enforcer thing. I didn't go into super long explanations about any of that…because this was _supposed_ to be a drabble and ended up being a small one-shot. Also, just entertain the thought that Enki kept winning against opponents and defending his position as Demon World's ruler in the Makai Tournaments. It's not really _that_ critical to the story…but just thought I'd mention it. Also, there is a mention of a derogatory name for cops, but Touya doesn't initially understand the context. I mean no offense to anyone out there who is in actual law enforcement.

Rating: T

Prompt: For day 3 (1/31) of the YuYear 2017 event at tumblr, to the prompt: Powerful. Prompts are gained through a random generator.

Author's Notes: I don't have much more to say aside from what I noted in the warning(s) section, but I will add that this fic is primarily in Touya's POV. If I missed anything, let me know…?

WC: Approx. 1,295

Dedication: For crewdlydrawn (at tumblr)…you mentioned once you liked this pairing. I hope you like the fic. There's not enough of this interesting pairing. I'm glad I could add a little something of it to the YYH fandom. Perhaps, if you had not mentioned you liked the pairing I wouldn't have gotten around to writing something for them. -smiles-

* * *

 **Unnerved  
** By Yo (I'm also dragonheart-butterflysoul at tumblr)  
Completed on 1/31/17

* * *

Lost in thought, Touya stared up at a clear, cloudless, blue sky, his arms folded loose across his chest. Leaning comfortably against the solid trunk of the maple tree at his back, he vaguely registered the position of a tiny, unrecognizable speck miles and miles far above him, a speck he actually knew to be Jin up there enjoying the calm winds of the day and basking in the sun's warmth.

It was a mild spring day in Human World, and he and Jin had made one of their rare visits back to Human World. Rare, because, despite the barrier being down between worlds, their work for the Demon World King Enki often kept them away and tied up. They had been granted a few weeks leave recently, so that they could rest and fully recharge their energies. He and Jin unanimously chose to travel to Genkai's shrine for a small vacation in light of that allowance.

Their current work wasn't undertaken in the suffocating darkness of secrecy, nor inside such rigid strictures as their work for the shinobi had been. Enki kept them busy enough, however, and their skillset _as_ former shinobi was useful to the ruler—he employed them, among many others who qualified, as enforcers of sorts, making sure his laws were being followed.

Touya considered it rather ironic that he and Jin were _still_ in charge of keeping the peace in Demon World (and Human World by association). They just had a visible presence in their work for Enki.

He'd heard Yusuke tease Jin once, around the time he and Jin were first employed by Enki, about being a "pig." Touya didn't understand why the boy had referred to them as animals. It was altogether confusing because Yusuke was grinning and joking about it. He inconspicuously listened harder to their conversation after that—Jin was confused too and asked the boy about it. Yusuke explained that it was an offensive term for cops, or "police officers," in the Human World—who were essentially law enforcers and _kind of_ did what he and Jin did for work in Demon World.

Touya remembered having to bite his lip as he tried to keep from smiling when Jin punched Yusuke in the face for the insult, and then the all-out brawl that had transpired between them following the blow.

"What, may I ask, is so amusing?"

Brought back to the present by Kurama's question, and the fox demon's sudden presence (rather close) beside him, Touya turned his head minutely to capture the man in his peripheral view. He suddenly felt the beginnings of a blush burning under his skin…a phenomenon that seemed to happen more and more each time he was in Kurama's presence…a phenomenon he wished would cease altogether. He couldn't help drawing his crossed arms tighter against his chest. Something about the red haired, green eyed man just made him feel vulnerable… _raw_ , dissected…and no demon worth his ilk enjoyed feeling such emotions. At least he was no such demon.

"What do you mean?" Touya replied back with his own question, only the slightest edge of defensiveness entering his soft voice.

"You must have wandered far away inside your mind because you didn't notice me approach. I assume you were in a pleasant place with that smile that was on your face," Kurama explained, before stating further, "I was merely curious. You don't have to share if you don't wish to."

Considering the fox's words, Touya tilted his head to the side a little, his green bangs bouncing at the action. There was no harm in telling Kurama what he'd been thinking about, Touya decided.

Besides, it was more worrisome that he didn't detect the man's approach—that was _dangerous_ , even in familiar, friendly environs. He had countless enemies, some of the most fearsome being those who were still shinobi…formidable foes trained in the art of assassination, among other things. He and Jin were Enemy #1 to the organization for their defection, and he had no doubt they were to be executed on sight. Their freedom came with the price of having to remain ever vigilant. Perhaps, that was no different than before…except for the freedom part.

These thoughts were sobering to Touya, and he could feel the embarrassing blush drain away from beneath his skin.

He also couldn't believe he'd been caught smiling absently. Was he that out of it? He wasn't even thinking of anything important.

Touya breathed a sigh, closed his eyes, and then responded, "Just about the time Yusuke slighted Jin, and, implicitly, me, with that "pig" reference."

Kurama let out a quiet chuckle, which caused Touya to open his eyes again at the sound. Though, he still wouldn't look directly into Kurama's...captivating, ensnaring eyes. No need to give the man any further influence over him…or the key to finding some weakness inside Touya to exploit.

"I remember hearing about that. I imagine they fought like children, too, much like Kuwabara and Yusuke often do," Kurama commented.

Touya gave a nod in reply.

"I can see how that would be an amusing memory to you."

Touya didn't think he needed to provide a response to those words.

"How is work under Enki going for you?"

Was it just Touya or was Kurama somehow standing closer to him now? The moderate temperature of the day suddenly felt like it had changed to something hotter…something constraining…something like standing outside in the height of a humid summer day at noon. A bead of sweat started a slow fall from his brow, down the pale flesh of his cheek, and toward his neck as if in sympathy at that discomforting thought.

"Fine," Touya said, trying subtly to move away from Kurama without seeming rude or drawing the keen man's attention.

"Touya, stop."

 _Of course_ Kurama would notice, but it wasn't the enticing way his name sounded in the man's mouth that stilled him. It was the feather light touch of fingertips against the side of his throat that did…

Kurama had captured the sweat droplet, and Touya was helpless to stop his gaze from landing directly on the man now…helpless to stop the way he was drawn to that mouth…to those pink lips closing around the fingertip that must have caught the sweat drop…

Time seemed to disappear, to cease altogether, for that one, single, mesmerizing moment, and Touya suddenly realized that he wasn't breathing.

Time restarted again, and the ice demon snatched precious breath back into his lungs and jerked his eyes away from the man's mouth. He made no attempts to be subtle this time as he stepped away from Kurama's warmth.

What power Kurama must wield…to capture him so completely…even if it had _only_ been for a moment.

"I unnerve you," Kurama stated, an airy laugh escaping those…dangerous, alluring lips, now, thankfully, unobstructed by tempting fingertips.

Forget assassins. Kurama was more deadly than all of his enemies combined.

He didn't even have to pull out his infamous rose whip to slay a person...

"I…have to…" Touya tried to think of a polite way to excuse himself from the man's company, but came up short of intelligible words.

In the end, he just walked away from Kurama without saying anything more (manners be damned), all but running into the refuge of the shrine and into his guestroom. The fox demon's light, teasing laughter rang in the wake of Touya's exit…resounding all the way through him and deep down into the marrow of his bones, stirring up a shiver of nerves in his blood.

He thought he might have heard Jin asking after his well-being, which somehow seemed to make Kurama laugh with more intensity, but somehow not with deeper volume...

Touya didn't stick around to listen to _that_ conversation.

 _Unnerved, indeed,_ Touya thought.

* * *

 _ **Owari…?**_


End file.
